Partly because of the unseasonably warm weather, but mainly because Villa’s very seasonal knack of beating the Premier League’s elite left the claret and blue faithful basking in the warm afterglow of humbling the leaders.

As if chastening champions-elect Chelsea, getting the ground rocking and banishing their relegation worries wasn’t enjoyable enough for the vibrant Villans, mocking Jose Mourinho, the Portuguese pantomime villain, simply added to the entertainment.

It was a Special One...

It was fun, it was great, great fun.

It was what Villa Park was intended for and guaranteed Villa fans will spend the week with a Fabian Delph-style spring in their step.

Mat Kendrick on the win against Chelsea

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Rather than Chelsea going nine points clear at the top, Villa have gone nine points clear of the bottom three, up to 34 points and tenth place with nine games remaining.

In a season when the safety mark could be as low as 37 points, another home victory over Stoke this Sunday could virtually secure their Premier League status and then the progress-based push for mid-table respectability could begin in earnest.

Having achieved their first back-to-back home league wins in 70 matches and ended an unwanted top-flight record in the process, don’t bet against the claret and blues making it three against the Potters next weekend.

We’ll leave the Chelsea controversy until later, as that is when most of it occurred, and instead concentrate on Villa’s best, most complete 90-minute win of a topsy-turvy campaign. Even better than Arsenal and Man City.

Never mind that Chelsea finished with nine players and no manager, Villa deserved this victory, even before their numerical advantage.

Delph ensured they got it – and in some style.

He doesn’t score ordinary goals, this lad, only extraordinary ones. Some players, having strained every sinew, would have lacked the energy or inclination to drive forward in the 82nd minute, or having done that, would then have taken a breather rather than continued their run.

Not Delph. After sweeping the ball out wide left to Marc Albrighton, the Yorkshire terrier burst into the box to reach the substitute’s cutback and, without breaking stride, direct a sublime back-heel finish past Petr Cech.

It was such an impudent, improvised piece of skill that it would have put Chelsea’s Brazilian players to shame, had they not already been putting themselves to shame.

By then the leaders were already down to ten after Willian was sent off on 69 minutes, prompting gags that he had to leave early to appear on The Voice. (Will.i.am, get it?!).

Willian had picked up a second yellow for clipping Delph, with a foul much less severe than his first-half one on Karim El Ahmadi, which earned a booking.

Villa, who came close in the first half when Christian Benteke fired a scissor kick wide, almost extended their lead when he stung the hands of Cech who also diverted another Delph shot on to the bar near the end.

Chelsea’s best chance came during a dominant start to the second half when Brad Guzan palmed away an errant clearance from El Ahmadi after Eden Hazard probed down the left.

Mourinho’s men did get the ball in the net just before the break, only for Nemanja Matic’s effort to be ruled out for handball, before Ron Vlaar’s presence as a covering defender stopped Joe Bennett ruining a surprisingly assured display with a red card when the rarely-used left-back tripped Ramires as he burst through.

Unlike in Villa’s controversial defeat at Stamford Bridge in August, the referee was much less of a friend to Mourinho than Kevin Friend had been.

Mourinho said he did not want to talk about Chris Foy after the match and then spent most of his press conference doing just that in any case, whipping Chelsea fans into such a frenzy that Olympic cycling legend Sir Chris Hoy was mistakenly subjected to abuse on his Twitter account.

The moment that really maddened Mourinho and gladdened the Villa Park masses was when the Special One was told to ‘do one’ by the officials, sent from the dugout for entering the field as tempers flared at the end.

Villa fans lapped it up. Few things in football compare to thousands waving along to that childishly joyous chant of ‘cheerio’ as opponents trudge down the tunnel.

Paul Lambert refused to discuss the ugly late scenes, only to describe Ramires’ shocking stamp El Ahmadi’s shin as a “leg-breaker”.

Mourinho conveniently ignored his own player’s horror tackle and instead blamed Gabby Agbonlahor for inflaming the situation by grabbing Ramires.

Taunts of “You’re not Special any more” greeted Mourinho as he departed Villa Park, still awaiting his first victory there after two defeats and three draws.